Check-row planter.



1. F. MATHENY.

CHECK ROW PLANTER.

APPUcATxoN man 0cT.3o.1915.

Patented Nov. 14, 1916.

JOHN' F. MATHENY, 0F VALLEY PARK, MISSOURI.

CHECK-ROW PLANTER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Noir. 14, 1916.

Application led October 30, 1915. Serial No. 58,760.

To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN F. MATHENY, a citizen of the United States ofAmerica, a resident of Valley Park, in the county of St. Louis, State ofMissouri, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Check-RowPlanters, of which the following is a full, clear, and exactdescription, reference beinghad to the accompanying drawings, formingapart of this specification:

My invention relates to a planter of the general type shown in PatentNo. 1,152,033, issued to me August 31, 1915, the present invention beingan improvement on the structure shown in said patent.

Briefly stated, the preferred form of this inventionl includes anindicator carried by the planter in such 'a manner that it will mark theground to indicate the points at .which the seeds have been planted.While this'indicator may be secured to` the frame of the machine in anysuitable manner, it is preferably, pivoted tot one of the ground wheelsso that it may occupy two positions, namely, an operative position andan inoperative position. When the planting de-A vice is in service, theindicator. or marker is located in its operative position, and when theplanting device is not in service, for instance, while the machine istraveling along a roadway, the indicator may be shifted to itsinoperative position wherein it will not strike the ground.

Figure I 'is a longitudinal section taken approximately through thecenter of the planter. `Fig. II'is an enlarged section on line III-III,Fig. I, illustrating the marker.

1 designates a ground wheel secured to an axle 3.

The axle is rotatably fitted to a main frame A, carrying seed hoppei's 4which contain the corn or other seed. Runners 5,

at the front end of the main frame, are provided with seed chutes 6adapted to receive the seed which drops from the lioppers 4.

The seed dropping mechanism is fullyl shown and described in Patent No.1,152,033 to which I have previously referred, .the member 20 being aclutch device secured to a seed dropper shaft 12 and provided with aiinger 24'adapted to be actuated by a cam 22 to control the movements ofthe seed dropper as shown and described in the prior patent.V The clutchdevice 20 is actuated by `a sprocket chain 15 passing around a sprocketwheel 16 on the axle 3. The clutch controlling cam 22 is fixed to a rockshaft 23. The means for operating this rock shaft includes a trippercomprising a rotatable abutment carrier B secured to the axle 3 andprovided with abutments 26.

Each abutment 26 is preferably a roller Journaled in a pair of arms 26',said arms being secured to the abutment carrier B by means of bolts 27.A tripable arm 28, in the form of a spring, is arranged in the path ofthe abutment rollers 26 and connected to the rock shaft 23 by means of aconnecting bar 29 and acrank arm 30, said crank arm being'fixed to therock shaft 23. The tripable arm 28 is preferably secured to the mainframe A by means of a leg A depending from said main frame, and the freeportion of saidtripable arm 28 is adapted to be bent downwardly by theabutment rollers 26 which move about the axis of the shaft or axle 3.The tripable arm 28 is preferably provided with a roller 28 adaptedto beengaged by the abutment rollers 26. When the free portion of thetripable arm 28 is deflected downwardly by one of the abutment rollers26, the connecting bar 29 and crank arm 30 are actuated with the resultof shifting the cam 22 away from the finger 24. This operation releasesthe clutch controlling cani 22 and allows the clutch device totransmitmovement to the seed p dropping elements.

lEach marking linger 37 is pivotally supported by a rigid member 40, thelatter be- 4ing secured tothe ground wheel 1, and when the machine is inservice as a planter, each marking finger 1s locked in its operativeposition by means of a pin or key 41 (Fig. l

II) passing through a portion of the marking finger and also through therigid membei' 40. When the machine is not in service as a planter, eachmarking finger 37 may be shifted to an inoperative position, shown bydotted lines in Fig. Il, and when in this position the-marking fingercannot be in.- juned by striking the ground or roadway over which themachine is traveling. The pin or key 41 maybe readily removed to permitthe marking finger to be shifted from the position shown by dottedlines, and when the finger occupies the last lmentioned p osition saidpin or key may b'e inserted intO an aperture 42 in a marking finger andthrough the rigid member 40, thus locking the marking finger in itsinoperative posi tion.

I claim:

In a planter, a seed dropping device, power mechanism including a groundwheel for operating said seed dropping device, a marking finger, a pivotmember securing said marking finger to the ground wheel, said markingfinger being movable from an operative position wherein it Willstrikethe ground to an inoperative position wherein it cannot strike theground, and a rigid locking device adapted to eoperate with said pivotmember to rigidly secure said markmg finger in its operative positionand also adapted to coperate With said pivot member to rigidlysecuresaid marking finger inits inoperative position.

J. E. MATHENY.

